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RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION PROJECTS

ENVIRONMENTALGUIDELINES

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OVERVIEW

• Introduction– Worldwide, about 3 million people die each

year from waterborne diseases due to

– inadequate sanitation and waste disposal,

– inadequate water supply, unsafe drinking water and bacteriological contamination through water used for cooking and bathing

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OVERVIEW cont’d

– Improving water supply and sanitation in developing countries is among the goals of World Bank operations

– To contribute towards this end, the Rural Water and Sanitation Thematic Group developed the proposed environmental guidelines for use in the design of rural water supply and sanitation projects

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ENVIRONMENTAL GUIDELINES TO SERVE AS A

FRAMEWORK

• To facilitate– identification, assessment, and mitigation of

potential environmental and social impacts of rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) projects

– good environmental project design

– identification of applicable safeguard policies

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FRAMEWORK cont’d

• To enable task teams to obtain reliable information concerning positive and negative impacts of RWSS projects and to ensure that project benefits are fully realized

• Task teams are the main audience for these environmental guidelines

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FRAMEWORK cont’d

• To provide task teams with the following tools:– A checklist for screening purposes and good

environmental project design

– A list of applicable safeguard policies

– Environmental assessment

– Best practices

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A. Checklist

• To facilitate screening as required by OP 4.01 and good environmental project design, the following points need to be considered:– Water allocation: abstraction rights need to be

secure; required water amounts to be recognized in overall planning and management of water resources;

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Checklist cont’d

– Water quantity: For a minimum level of service, water supply systems should be designed to deliver at least 20 liters per person per day (plus wastage) without excessive queuing; this is important to prevent water-washed diseases (scabies, body lice, tropical ulcers) and eye infections (trachoma, conjunctivitis)

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Checklist cont’d– Water quality: (i) Protection of ground water

and surface water is critical; (ii) Determine applicable water quality standards (WHO guidelines or national drinking water quality policy); (iii) Ensure testing and treatment of parasites, hazardous chemicals, bacteria, viruses; (iv) Establish frequency and responsibility for testing and treatment as well as monitoring; (v) Ensure technical adequacy, quality, safety of bulk storage facilities, pumping facilities;

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Checklist cont’d– Source protection: (i) Understand natural and

human activities around the well or spring box; (ii) Understand connection between surface water use activities and their impact on water quality at the point of withdrawal; (iii) To prevent source contamination, consider pollution prevention, conservation, land use management; (iv) Ensure safe distance between water supply system intake and latrines, cattle pens, refuse pits, cess pools, sanitary land fill areas; (v) Effective design and construction of abstraction facilities

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Checklist cont’d– Sanitation: (i) Choice of appropriate facilities

(latrines, septic tanks) in cooperation with communities; (ii) Good design and construction; (iii) Safe ground infiltration rates; (iv) Consideration of potential waste water issues; proper disposal; and appropriate waste water management methods; (v) Keeping drainage channels free of debris and waste water from households and local industries; (vi) Consideration of availability of water and toilets in schools, markets, community centers, and centers of worship

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Checklist cont’d

– Hygiene education programs: (i) Health and hygiene measures to protect water supplies; (ii) Selection and design of sanitation facilities; (iii) Understanding of link between standing water pools and malaria due to associated mosquito breeding; (iv) Proper siting of facilities with respect to water supply; (v) O & M of water supplies; (vi) Design of sanitation facilities with respect to O & M

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Checklist cont’d

– Water reuse: (i) Consider technologies and management strategies designed to reuse waste water in rural agriculture, which can reduce environmental pollution; (ii) Adopt standards for waste water reuse; (iii) Consult EPA guidelines for reclaimed water treatment processes and water quality limits for both, non-potable water, and indirect potable reuse

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Checklist cont’d

– Environmental monitoring indicators: (i) Microbiological indicators: E-coli, the single most important indicator of faecal contamination; (ii) Physical-chemical indicators: flouride, pH, turbidity, chlorine residual; (iii) Source of secondary information: increase in number of latrines used; (iv) Refer to publication “Environmental Performance Indicators”, 1999

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Checklist cont’d

– Community participation: OED identified factors that seem to favor community management: (i) Timely educational and training inputs; (ii) Building on the country’s social and cultural traditions; (iii) Systematic encouragement of inter-visitation between villages; (iv) Use of project champions; (v) Providing organizations with computers

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Checklist cont’d

– Safeguard policies: Applicability is based on: (i) Magnitude of construction; (ii) Project location, i.e. near protected areas, critical habitats; (iii) Effects of water withdrawals on water availability; (iv) Effects on downstream activities; (v) Effects on quality of water sources; (vi) Potential need for land acquisition and/or resettlement

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B. Safeguard Policies

• OP 4.01 Environmental Assessment– Requires screening of all projects to be financed

by the Bank

– Evaluates project’s potential environmental risks and impacts in its area of influence

– Takes into account natural environment (air, land, water), human health and safety, and social aspects (involuntary resettlement, indigenous peoples, cultural property)

– Starts as early as possible in project processing

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Safeguard Policies cont’d

• OP 4.37 Safety of Dams– Addresses safety requirements for new and

existing dams (large and small)

– RWSS projects are most likely to rely on small dams (less than 15 meters in height)

– Dam safety has to be considered where RWSS projects rely on water from reservoirs which in turn depend on a functioning dam that is not part of the RWSS project

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Safeguard Policies cont’d• OD 4.30 Involuntary Resettlement

– Addresses issues related to resettlement of project-affected people and effects of land acquisition

– The policy’s objective is to ensure that the population displaced by the project receives benefits from it

– OD is interpreted to include compensation for people who have not actually been resettled but who lost sources of income due to the project

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Safeguard Policies cont’d

• OP 4.04 Natural Habitats– The Bank supports natural habitat conservation

and improved land use

– The Bank support rehabilitation of degraded natural habitats

– The Bank does not support projects involving significant conversion or degradation of critical natural habitats (protected areas)

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Safeguard Policies cont’d

• OP 4.11 Cultural Property

– Includes sites having archaeological (pre-historic), paleontological, historical, religious, and unique natural values

– The Bank’s policy is to assist in their preservation, and to seek to avoid their elimination

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Safeguard Policies cont’d

• OP 7.60 Projects in Disputed Areas– May raise a number of delicate problems

between the Bank and its member countries as well as between a borrower and neighboring countries

– For every project in a disputed area, Bank staff consider the nature of the dispute

– The PAD and MOP outline the position of the Bank

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Safeguard Policies cont’d

• OP 7.50 Projects on International Waterways– The policy covers surface water and ground

water

– It applies to, among others, water and sewerage projects

– Cooperation and goodwill of riparians is essential for efficient utilization of international waterways

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C. Environmental Assessment

• Based on the results of the screening process, the task team and regional environment unit determine the– type and extent of EA

– appropriate environmental category (A, B, C, FI)

– applicable safeguard policies

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Environmental Assessment cont’d• Most stand-alone RWSS projects are Bs

• They have positive and negative impacts

• Environmental Assessment addresses the:– impacts of each project

– environmental policy and legal frameworks

– environmental training needs

– commitment to international conventions

– applicable safeguard policies

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Environmental Assessment cont’d• EA also applies to sub-projects funded through

financial intermediaries under social funds (categorized as FI). EA process takes into account:– Type of finance being considered

– Nature and scale of anticipated sub-projects

– Local and national EA requirements

– FI capacity to conduct sub-project EAs

– World Bank safeguard policies

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Environmental Assessment cont’d

• If the screening process indicates that some sub-projects may require resettlement or land acquisition, the Africa Region prepares a social assessment framework which outlines a process for addressing such impacts during project implementation

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Environmental Assessment cont’d• Recommendation:

– conduct a separate EA for stand-alone RWSS projects to assess impacts properly

– conduct a separate EA for social funds that (i) address potential sub-project impacts and (ii) include the development of an effective EA process for sub-projects

– if project issues are well understood and of a narrow scope, use of sound design criteria or pollution standards may suffice to meet EA requirements

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Other Development Agencies requiring EA

• Department for International Development (DFID)

• US Department of Agriculture, Rural Utilities Service

• US Agency for International Development

• African Development Bank

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Best Practices• Zambia Social Fund

– EA identifies environmental and social impacts;

– EA proposes an EA process for sub-projects starting during identification and ending with an evaluation of sub-project impacts;

– EA proposes technical guidelines for sub-projects, including water and sanitation projects

– EA proposes environmental training for ZAMSIF staff, District Teams, Communities and other participating organizations

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Best Practices cont’d

• Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project– EA identifies environmental issues such as water

scarcity during the summer, inadequate sanitation and related health issues, and poor water quality due to bacteriological contamination

– EMP outlines mitigation measures

– EA proposes monitoring indicators in relation to environmental issues